Contributed by Sheila McDonald
In the early 90s, my brother, Carl, and I (Sheila) were adopted by Margaret and Roger McDonald. We were a few generations behind. Her original children were already grown and started their own families.
Mom taught me how to pick berries, garden, can, cook, sew and take care of a pony. We didn’t have things kids had, like internet or TV shows. We lived in an old farm house, and we lived a simple life. My parents always had time. They taught us old school and true value, and they still never run out of stories to tell.
My mom was a mother, step mom, foster mom, grandmother and a mother to anyone she ever met. She wanted to be there for people and wanted everyone to have a mom.
Carl’s favorite memory of mom was when he was about 10. “Mom was sitting outside on the porch, and she was feeling sad that day. Sheila and I wanted to cheer her up, so we took newspaper and made origami hats and armor to match my newspaper hat. I peeked out the door where mom was sitting, and then I marched out in all my glory and put my hands on my hips and said, ‘I am your knight in shining armor’. I still remember her laugh to this day. That is my favorite memory of mother. She took me in when I was one. She fed and clothed me. She gave me a middle name after her favorite uncle. She gave me a bed to sleep in, also an education, lots of love and care. She gave me what she never had in her childhood – nourishment and above all else, family. She is the greatest person I ever called mother.”
Margaret “Pegge” McDonald:
February 21, 1926 – March 3, 2018
